Parents should become informed about childhood vaccinations

As a mother of two children, one of whom has autism, the decision to vaccinate or not is agonizing. On one hand, there are those who think vaccination is quite safe, including most members of the medical community; (then) there are those who will do anything to avoid it, including an increasing number of parents who are convinced the onset of their kids' autism coincided with the administration of one or more vaccines, with or without the mercury preservative Thimerosal.

 

Then again, there is really no "decision" to be made, because in order for children to take advantage of a free public education (or even an expensive private one), they must be vaccinated — that is, unless you can prove an existing medical condition that precludes vaccination, or claim membership in a religion that forbids it.

Of course, there's also that piece of paper pediatricians make you sign absolving them of any wrongdoing should your child eventually prove to be vaccineinjured.

So then you think to yourself, is it merely only "highly coincidental" that the explosion of autism has gone hand-in-hand with the increased vaccine schedule of the early 1990s?

With all the attention given to autism these days, and a recent interest in biomedical treatments, the growing "vaccine camp" within the autism community has become elevated from its previous "crackpot" status — its sheer number of members bestowing upon it credibility and respect.

It is very easy for anyone with credentials to advocate the safety of vaccines. They are utterly and instinctually believable.

But it is getting increasingly difficult to ignore the parents, some of whom have proof in the form of medical records, personal testimony, home videos, etc., that their once normal kids became autistic (or asthmatic or hyperactive or otherwise different) soon after the administration of one or more vaccines.

Quite simply, many people are afraid and don't know who to believe.

Recently, I read a book titled "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Childhood Vaccinations," by Stephanie Cave, M.D. Upon completing it, you come away with the feeling that you don't have to side completely with one camp or the other.

You gain confidence in your ability to have more say in, as well as control over, the issue of whether to vaccinate or not. You realize you don't have to limit yourself to such a black and white dichotomy. You gain enough information — in a very fair and readable way — to make the informed decisions each side so urges you to make.
Lisa Rose Fitton
Howell